Reflections - 22 (new)

Monday 25th April 2011

Carol finished seat cushions at 1:30 on Saturday morning and we took Anne and my Dad for tea and biscuits on Sat 23rd for Anne's birthday.

When we got back mid-afternoon on Saturday Carol carried on with sewing, getting seat backs finished for about 10:00 pm - we had to try them out then, so the neighbours were treated to the sight of us pretending to sleep in the van on top of the drive.

On Sunday, we did some final bits and pieces but really the van was all but finished - we took the afternoon a bit easier and started ticking some minor things off the list. We have a list containing all the jobs we need to do on the van. Like Earl's list in the US sitcom 'My Name Is Earl'. It is a good system, and I think I may need to adopt it for my studies too.

Today I decided to have a go at seeing if the electrics would work on the new (second hand) seats that we had bought to  replace the front seats in the van. These are grey leather seats from a Jaguar XJ6, and they are very comfortable. And the electrics work.

I always thought that I couldn't do electrics, until I sat and looked at a wiring diagram. As I looked, tracing the routes of the wires, it occurred to me that the colours of the wires were irrelevant... They could all be blue or pink or purple or whatever colour they wanted to be... the route of the wire was the important factor, not the colour. This was a revelation, and since then, wiring has not phased me. I need to come up with a similar 'eureka' moment to de-mistify design. The closest I have to this is a phrase I often use to students: 'There is no right or wrong answer in design'. This takes some explaining but the premise is that design is subjective, so the appreciation of design is a negotiation between designer and viewer. If the designer has incorporated enough visual cues to imply a message, and that message has been interpreted by the viewer, then the design is more successful. I will write this up more succinctly, though... This will really help my teaching.